Chemical Engineer Course

Lesson 1 • Stoichiometry and Chemical Reactions

Covers mole concepts, reaction balancing, and yield calculations. These skills directly support mass and energy balance work in later chapters.

Lesson 2 • Units, Dimensions, and Conversions

Establishes SI and engineering unit systems and dimensional analysis techniques. Accurate unit handling underpins every quantitative calculation in the course.

Lesson 3 • States of Matter and Phase Behavior

Introduces gas, liquid, and solid properties and phase diagrams. Understanding phase behavior is essential for separation and reactor design.

Lesson 1 • Combined Material and Energy Balances

Solves simultaneous mass and energy balances for multi-unit processes including reactors and separators. Prepares students for integrated process analysis.

Lesson 2 • Reactive System Mass Balances

Extends mass balances to systems with chemical reactions using extent-of-reaction and atomic balance methods. Builds directly on stoichiometry from Chapter 1.

Lesson 3 • Energy Balance Fundamentals

Introduces enthalpy, internal energy, and heat capacity for energy balance formulation. Connects thermodynamic properties to process heating and cooling duties.

Lesson 4 • Transient Balances and Startup Analysis

Formulates time-dependent mass and energy balances for batch and startup scenarios. Students model dynamic process behavior using ordinary differential equations.

Lesson 1 • Phase Equilibria and VLE

Applies Raoult's law, modified Raoult's law, and activity coefficient models to vapor-liquid equilibria. Results feed directly into distillation and absorption design.

Lesson 2 • Chemical Reaction Equilibrium

Calculates equilibrium conversion using Gibbs energy minimization and equilibrium constants. Temperature and pressure effects on equilibrium are quantified.

Lesson 3 • Thermodynamic Laws and Properties

Reviews the first and second laws and introduces entropy, Gibbs energy, and chemical potential. These properties drive all equilibrium and efficiency calculations.

Lesson 4 • Equations of State for Real Fluids

Covers cubic equations of state and corresponding-states correlations for real gas and liquid behavior. Accurate fluid property prediction is critical for equipment sizing.

Lesson 1 • Mass Transfer Fundamentals

Covers molecular diffusion, Fick's law, and convective mass transfer coefficients. These concepts connect to separation process design in later chapters.

Lesson 2 • Pumps, Compressors, and Piping Systems

Sizes pumps and compressors using system curves and NPSH requirements. Students design piping networks with parallel and series configurations.

Lesson 3 • Viscous Flow and Friction Losses

Analyzes laminar and turbulent pipe flow using the Hagen-Poiseuille equation and Moody chart. Friction factor correlations enable accurate pressure drop prediction.

Lesson 4 • Fluid Statics and Flow Fundamentals

Covers hydrostatic pressure, buoyancy, and the Bernoulli equation for ideal flow. These fundamentals underpin all subsequent fluid system calculations.

Lesson 1 • Ideal Reactor Design Equations

Formulates design equations for batch, CSTR, and PFR reactors and solves for volume and conversion. Levenspiel plots visualize reactor sizing trade-offs.

Lesson 2 • Catalysis and Heterogeneous Reactors

Covers catalyst mechanisms, Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics, and packed-bed reactor design. Internal and external mass transfer limitations are quantified using effectiveness factors.

Lesson 3 • Non-Isothermal Reactor Design

Couples energy balances with reactor design equations for exothermic and endothermic systems. Students identify runaway conditions and design safe operating strategies.

Lesson 4 • Reaction Rate Laws and Kinetics

Derives rate expressions from elementary and non-elementary mechanisms and determines rate constants experimentally. Kinetic data analysis is the foundation of reactor design.

Lesson 1 • Membrane and Adsorption Separations

Introduces reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and pressure-swing adsorption as modern separation alternatives. Performance metrics and scale-up considerations are addressed.

Lesson 2 • Distillation Column Design

Applies McCabe-Thiele and Fenske-Underwood-Gilliland methods to binary and multicomponent distillation. Column sizing and reflux ratio optimization are covered.

Lesson 3 • Absorption and Stripping

Designs gas-liquid absorption and stripping columns using operating lines and transfer unit methods. Solvent selection criteria and column internals are discussed.

Lesson 4 • Liquid-Liquid Extraction

Covers solvent extraction equilibria, stage calculations, and extractor equipment selection. Students apply Hunter-Nash graphical methods to ternary systems.

Lesson 1 • Process Flowsheet Development

Constructs block flow diagrams, process flow diagrams, and piping and instrumentation diagrams. Flowsheet conventions and documentation standards are established.

Lesson 2 • Heat Exchanger Design and Sizing

Sizes shell-and-tube and plate heat exchangers using LMTD and NTU-effectiveness methods. Fouling factors and pressure drop constraints are incorporated.

Lesson 3 • Process Simulation Software

Uses steady-state process simulators to model flowsheets, converge recycle loops, and perform sensitivity studies. Simulation results are validated against hand calculations.

Lesson 4 • Process Economics and Cost Estimation

Estimates capital and operating costs using factorial and module costing methods. Net present value and payback period metrics guide investment decisions.

Lesson 1 • Hazard Identification Methods

Introduces HAZOP, what-if analysis, and checklist methods for identifying process hazards. Structured guide-word application is practiced on realistic process scenarios.

Lesson 2 • Inherently Safer Design Principles

Applies minimize, substitute, moderate, and simplify strategies to reduce process hazards at the design stage. Trade-offs between safety and process performance are evaluated.

Lesson 3 • Safety Instrumented Systems

Designs safety instrumented functions to achieve target safety integrity levels using layer-of-protection analysis. SIS architecture and proof-test intervals are specified.

Lesson 4 • Risk Assessment and Consequence Modeling

Quantifies risk using fault trees, event trees, and consequence models for toxic releases and fires. Risk matrices prioritize mitigation actions.